Hello Again...

So it's been a while. The last thing I posted was that I was going working abroad for 3 months, and I apologise that you never heard from me again!

If you follow me on any of my social media you'll see the huge adventure that I went on. Even when I was writing that last blog post I think deep down I didn't think I'd stay the whole summer and sometimes I didn't even want to.

This summer has literally included some of the best and the worst times of my life, but my gosh it was the best experience for me so far!

I wrote a diary everyday about my whole experience and it's literally filled my whole book but it's really nice to read now when I get the chance. 

I was so nervous about the flight there because I've never flown on my own before. It was an afternoon flight so my mum and best friend drove me to the airport and luckily I didn't cry which was good! Luckily I sailed through check-in and security and finally I was on the other side on my own. I went to Burger King for food and luckily a new episode of Pretty Little Liars was out so I watched that to pass the time. I then just sat and waited for my plane to come in, watching Mrs Brown's Boys on my new tablet that I'd bought, the Hudl 2 from Tesco. The show really got me through that, and I watched it on the flight too because it always makes me laugh. I was sat next to a lovely couple though so I felt a lot better. The flight time to Mallorca is only about two hours and twenty minutes so I just occupied myself. Then I realised my suitcase wheels were broke when I collected it and it was so heavy that I ended up dragging it through the airport trying to find my transfer. Luckily I was the only one on the minibus so it took me straight to Alcudia, where I was working. All the boys I was working with came to meet me so that was nice and I met the lovely owners too. They showed me where I was staying and obviously it wasn't the nicest flat in the world but it did for the summer, I had everything I needed to live.

The boys had to go to work so I went with them as they kind of showed me what my job was going to be. I then met up with my friends that I'd made who worked in the hotel I stayed at when I was on holiday and stayed at one of their flats because I was exhausted from my flight.

The next few days were kind of a blur to me. I did my first real shift which really freaked me out. I think everything kind of hit me at once, that I was alone in this place with all these people I didn't know. The boys made me feel right at home though, staying with me when I was upset and obviously my mum was always on the other side of the phone. But the first week was one of the worst. I wasn't eating properly, maybe a mixture of the heat and also my anxiety, so I felt sick all the time. And my sleeping pattern was messed up too because now I was working 8pm til 5am so I slept most of the day. I tried to get out as much as I could during the day but the boys always slept in so I had to just do my own thing. 

It did take a long time but I actually started enjoying it. The nights were so much fun because colleges and universities had just finished so there were a lot of people my age on group holidays there so I made loads of friends which a few I still speak to. I got closer to the people I was working with too, especially the bartenders girlfriend Karen, who also lived with us. She was the only other girl around and it was so nice having her there. We also had a new girl coming over to work there called Emi.

But it all went back the night that she came. Karen worked in a restaurant for some of her summer so after she finished she'd go back to our flat, get changed and then come to The Prince Of Wales to wait for her boyfriend, Ash, to finish. So she noticed someone on our balcony and thought it was Liam, the guy who was off that night, so went up looking for him but found no-one so thought nothing of it. So she got ready then came down and asked Liam about seeing him but he said that he hadn't been to the flat. So a few of the boys went to the flat and saw that we'd been broken into. Various things were stolen including a PS4, phones, money, my tablet and iPod were taken. We were all distraught and then Emi showed up and we had to tell her all this. The next night was my night off so the guys hid the rest of their things in Ash and Karen's room because it had a lock on and went to work. I stayed at a friends flat that night and when I woke up I had millions of missed calls and texts saying we'd been broken into again. So I rushed home, not being able to get hold of anyone, and saw there was no-one in the flat. All the windows and balcony was open and all the lights were still turned on. I freaked out a bit, packed a bag of stuff and went to my old hotel to wait to hear from someone. Eventually I heard from Emi and they'd gone back and Karen and Ash's door was kicked down and literally everything was taken. They'd all stayed at the flat above where we worked instead. That really caused tension between us, one person quitting over it. It affected us all quite a lot but we got on with it. We got locks on literally everything so no-one could possibly even get in this time.

The owners were great though and helped us always in every way possible. I got on really well with them because they'd come and help if it was busy or just sit and chat if it wasn't. They had millions of incredible stories that I loved sitting and listening to.

Emi left about a week after that though so I was back to doing stuff on my own again. But luckily I contacted my best friend who was supposed to fly out with me in the beginning but never did to see if she still wanted the job and she booked a flight. Before she came I was so ready to come home, I'd had enough and it was all just too much for me. But with Alex coming I knew I'd be able to get through it. So I agreed to stay the whole three months instead. Along with Alex came another girl too from Essex that we got on really well with so we became like a power group. We did more stuff in the day, beach and pool days, we hired a pedalo too which was a great day. 

Food was hard though because we were just eating rubbish most days because we only woke up about 1/2 so missed most meals. Whatever I did eat couldn't have been good for. At the end too we all managed to get a horrible cold and if you've never had a cold abroad before, I can tell you they're not fun. I was sniffling and coughing all the time, was tired, felt ill, it was really grim. To be honest I still don't think I've fully recovered, even when I got back I think everything just hit me at once. 

There was also this group of people that just caused trouble every single night they came to the Prince. They caused arguments and fights and one of them was the cause of the biggest panic attack I've ever had. They hit someone right in front of me and I don't know what it was but it just set me off. I ended up sitting on the edge of the canal as it absolutely thrashed it down with a storm. I just couldn't calm down until Alex came to the rescue because she knows how to deal with me when I'm like that. It just wasn't a good night overall.

But it wasn't all bad! I had way more good days than bad. I had one amazing day where we went to a place called Bonaire to go cliff diving. So we just chilled on the rocks and then when we jumped in it was scarier than I thought. I'm not really one to do this anyway but I thought the drop was smaller than it actually was so it's a weird sensation when you think you'll hit the water but you actually don't. All the sea water went up my nose too which wasn't fun. But we bought some goggles and I bought a case for my phone that you can use in water and we got some amazing pictures and shots. There were fish everywhere and even when Alex claimed she saw a jellyfish we didn't believe her, but we really should've. I was sat on a rock with my legs and belly underwater and I felt a really bad pain on the back of my calf but I thought I'd just scraped it along the rock. Turns out I actually did get stung by a jellyfish because it really flared up and was so painfully itchy! But was still an experience and it didn't ruin my day either. 

That day my parents and brother also flew out for a holiday which I was so excited for because I hadn't seen them in nearly 3 months! My bosses were also nice enough to let me off work whilst they were here so I actually had a really nice holiday at the end of it with them. I flew home a few days after they left. 

So no I didn't make loads of money working abroad, but I met some of the most amazing people and made some unforgettable memories. I got closer to my best friend and learned some life lessons that have made me such a better person. I feel like I've come out of my shell a bit because I honestly didn't think I was the type of person who does this kind of thing, and neither did my friends and family. But they're so proud of me and most importantly I'm proud of myself. I could've come home after that first awful week, and had a rubbish summer working a job I didn't enjoy with horrible weather. Instead I stuck it out and didn't give up, even though sometimes I wanted to. 

I'm so glad I stuck to it because I would've just remembered it as an awful week abroad but I feel like I can accomplish much more things after doing it. I've learnt to take chances and do things way out of your comfort zone.

So I know this has been super long but I really want to be able to remember this forever. I filmed a few things too so when I've edited all that together I'll definitely put a link somewhere in here.

Thank you for being so patient with my blog, there's more to come! I'm also getting a new camera this weekend so there will be much more YouTube videos to come too!!

Most importantly Stay Happy

Sarah x

A few pictures I got whilst away

The incredible people I met!

New Video!

So this is my newest video and it's my first ever celebrity inspired look! 

I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out and I can't wait for the next one!

Watch it here!!

Stay Happy

Sarah

Room Redecorating!

Hey guys! I know it's been a while!

I've been a bit behind on college work so I wanted to try and catch up during mock week.

But luckily I am redecorating my room! I'm unbelievably excited, and have so many different ideas floating around my head. So I thought I would bring you guys along for the ride, maybe you'd like to see the transformation from my room as it is now to the room that I really want it to be.

I immediately knew what colour I wanted it to be, some sort of spring green or turquoise kind of colour. So I looked at loads of inspiration and ideas that people had which got me even more excited!

Anyways I thought I'd show you my room as it is now and then update when new things happen as we are doing things periodically.

So this is the view from one side of my room. When we decorated ages ago we got the two rooms put together so that's why I have this small room at the end. I used to have my bed in it but now I have my wardrobes, make-up and desk. I also have my nail boxes and wavy mirror on the wall that I'm eventually going to get rid of.

Here are two other pictures of my small room. As you can see it's so busy with lots going on especially on my walls. When I redecorate all the magazines are coming down and I'm painting it white so it's a lot brighter and lets a lot more light in.

I love this wooden shelf on the far left with all of my big jumpers and favourite t-shirts in. I think I'll be keeping this, and maybe painting it white.

And this is the other room. There's my big double bed with the TV on a bookshelf in front of it. I think I'm keeping them the same, just with different bedding. I also have my chest of drawers that I need to find new ones of because these ones are falling apart :( The paint splodges on the wall too are the colours that I was choosing from for that one or two walls. I've decided on the colour that's on the right because I think it will be nice and bright.

I also want to sort my blinds out, and the bookshelf in the middle so my room looks bigger.

I will be so sad to say goodbye to all these magazine cuttings that cover my small room. It took me a couple of years to get it perfect and lots of weekly magazines. But just from one glance at my walls you could tell what kind of fashion and beauty I enjoy and also the people I like. It also had some memories in there like my Race For Life posters and various cinema tickets.

So that's my room so far but I'm going to be sorting loads of things out soon and have already seen a new dressing table that I LOVE! And it's from a charity shop too! I can't wait.

So I will be updating this series as well as my other blog posts which will be more frequent now hopefully after all my deadlines. 

Stay Happy

Sarah

Christmas Time Illness :(

So it's been a while but I do have a reason for that. Before I explain I thought I would show you guys what I've been up to. On the 11th December I went to London with my college. To be honest I really really didn't want to go. I didn't know anybody, I had a really bad cold and all this stress just made my anxiety worse.

Luckily I quickly made friends with a girl called Ella and she helped me out. On the first day we went to the Warner Bros Studios which was amazing! I've never really been a massive Harry Potter nerd but it was so fascinating to see the behind the scenes of the films.

And then at night we went to watch Frozen and I have to say that it is one of my favourite films so far and I just had to go and watch it again!

The next day we went to the 02 arena Music Experience and it wasn't the best but there was a great dancing game there! It was also awesome to see the inside of the 02 and realise just how big it actually is!

Then in the afternoon we went to BBC Studios and saw where the News is filmed and took a tour of the building. We also got a cheeky glance of The Hairy Bikers and Nick Knowles too! Then at night we went to Hyde Park Christmas Markets and they were spectacular!

You can never beat strawberries covered in chocolate!

And then the day after we had free time before we came home so me and Ella went shopping on Oxford Street which was exciting! I did have a good time but my anxiety and cold ruined it a bit so I was just glad to be sleeping in my own bed.

So I just thought that this was an ordinary cold, blocked nose and all that but it turned worse. My sinuses in my cheeks started to hurt and the pain became unbearable but I had to carry on in college. Then in the last week of college I started to get a really bad pain just under my chest. I thought it was indigestion at first but then I realised it didn't feel like it. It started to hurt a lot, and I couldn't concentrate properly in college. But it was my last week so I troopered  through. Then on the Saturday I was sick, and if you know me, I'm never ever sick. I hate it and it's one of my many reasons of my anxiety so that didn't help me at all. So I spent the next couple of days in bed, still dealing with this chest pain too. Luckily I felt a bit better over Christmas Eve and Christmas day but I could still feel the pain under my chest. It usually got worse after I ate so I've been trying to eat less, but I do love my food. 

On the day after boxing day I told my mum that my shoulder had starting hurting somewhat too, along with my belly so she took me to the doctor's and he checked everything for me and said there was nothing to worry about. He gave me some tablets to clear my stomach and so I started taking them.

That evening I went to my relatives for a family buffet and I was having fun playing games with my cousins when I felt a sharp shooting pain straight up my arm and mainly in my shoulder, and if you know me then you'll know that I panic, so it really freaked me and I started worrying about what it could be. So I did what I have been doing the past few days to try and get comfortable so that it will go away when my stomach and chest started hurting too. My mum made me lie down and she looked after me so well. Luckily my Aunty who was there is a doctor so she helped me out somewhat but she still had no idea what was wrong with me. The fact that I'd had this pain for over a week now was really getting to me because I just wanted it to go away. No position and way I lay relieved me and I was getting fed up and upset way too quickly. I couldn't move either. Moving any of my arms hurt my shoulders, moving my body hurt my belly and even breathing hurt my chest. Let's just say I was an emotional wreck.

And that's been pretty much it for the last couple of days. I haven't left my bed, unless my mum has helped me get up. I haven't slept that well either because of the pain but I slept through most of the day. I feel like I've wasted all of my days instead of being with my friends and family but there is nothing I can do about it if I can't physically move. My friends and family have also noticed a change in me that I want back to normal. I'm noticeably paler, and thinner ( I've lost just under a stone in a month of being ill which I didn't have to spare anyways) and to be honest I just look unhealthy. I don't think I'm being myself either which I need to change back because I hate feeling so low and ill. I can't wait to get back to my normal self! 

Luckily for me it is getting that bit easier. We're on the idea at the minute that it is something to do with digestion so I've been cramming in pieces of toast, crackers, rice and chicken. It's not the nicest and most delicious choice of food but it will have to do if it's getting me better.

So that is my excuse for no blogs and videos and even if you say I could've done those things in bed, I literally did not want to do anything. I just wanted to lie there and sleep. And I know that it's been the worse possible time to be ill but at least I've been able to stay at home and sort this out properly.

And I'd just like to give a huge shoutout to my mum! :) She's looked after me so much, even slept in my bed when I couldn't move in case I wanted to sit up. She's the one that's kept me sane, and laughing because without her and my family I would've been so lonely and I would've thought up loads of negative things in my head. She's also gotten me everything I wanted, and kept me comfortable, even helping me change and brush my hair which I didn't think I'd need help with at 17 but things happen I guess.

Hopefully I'll be up and running as soon as possible, I'm excited to eat all my Christmas goodies that we've bought that I haven't been able to munch on yet. I'm also excited with new video ideas and blog posts that will be up soon too :)

Sorry for the long winded description of my illness, not really great to write about but I didn't want to come up with the lame excuse that I was just 'ill' but I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and got what they wanted! Hopefully I'll do a small post of the some of the things I got for Christmas too :)

( Also if any of this illness sounds familiar to anyone who might know what it is then let me know, you might just be helping me out :))

Stay Happy

Sarah

30 Day Snap #9

Race For Life!

So I did the Race For Life today and I really enjoyed it. We beat our goal of 50 minutes and we were really happy that we'd done it!

I'm definitely doing it for many more years to come!

Stay Happy

Sarah

My vlog that I took today >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCDL9h0VVVk

30 Day Snap #6

So today I did a photoshoot with one of my friends that I hadn't seen in ages. I missed her loads so I thought I'd use her to model in my pictures for the day. It was so nice seeing her and we had a good catch up, whilst enjoying the sun and taking fun pictures. 

This is one of the best ones I think:

I love this picture of Jess because it looks quite natural.

If you're interested in seeing the edited versions of these, I'll probably do a post about them tomorrow :) with all my favourites.

Thanks for reading,

Stay Happy,

Sarah

DIY Denim!

Hey Guys!

So when I went to get changed today I put a pair of denim jeans on that had gotten a hole in them quite a while ago. The hole wasn't particularly big but over time it's gotten bigger and bigger, so now it just looks like it's gaping, and looks a bit trampy so I decided to make them into shorts. I really wanted a pair of denim shorts for the summer, so I thought why not save some money and make them myself. I've made shorts from pants before so I thought I'd just show you how I did it :)

So from these jeans.....

to these funky denim shorts.

So if you would like to see the transformation just keep reading :)

To start the only things you'll need are:

A pair of scissors

And some chalk (optional but it just helps)

 The first thing you need to do with lay your jeans out flat on the floor facing up. Then this is optional but I don't like cutting the whole leg off at once so I fold the jean leg up at the knee so it creases and then I draw a line with my chalk where I want to cut it.

 and then this is the result. You could always leave the jeans like this with the 3/4 length. It's great for summer, and they're really fun to wear with a pair of dolly shoes or converse. 

 The next thing you need to do, preferably when you have the jeans on, is mark where you want to cut the leg off at. I recommend doing it a little bit longer than you want them to be, because you can always trim them to the proper length you want later on. Just mark the length you want with some chalk or a pencil.

And then you can take them off and draw a line the whole way across the leg. Then start to cut the leg across the line. It doesn't have to be especially neat because you can always trim them neater later on.

So after you've cut the front of the jeans, turn them over so they're face down and carry on with the same line along the back. If it helps draw the line in chalk first like I have done.

 And then just trim the edges to make sure they look neat. 

After you've done this, do exactly the same with the other leg, making sure the leg lengths stay the same. If you trim one side a little bit, make sure you trim the other side the same amount so they look even.

Eventually they should look something like this:

But as you can see from the second picture, the bottom of my shorts at the back is longer than the front so I took them off again and trimmed them down. I kept repeating this, trying them on for size, and then taking them off and trimming away some of the length until they were the size I wanted them to be. Eventually I got them the way I wanted them.

And finally, to finish them off I didn't want the bottom of my shorts to be straight, because they obviously look cut so I started to fray the bottoms. To fray the shorts I just picked at the white threading at the bottom, so it came out of place. This left the ends of the blue threads on their own, which made them look fuzzy. I carried on doing this all the way round the bottom of the shorts and got this effect:

You don't have to do this but I think it makes the shorts look a whole look better.

And there you have it, brand new looking shorts. These shorts are perfect for the summer or because the weather here in the UK is still FREEZING you can always pair them with some tights and a long sleeved tee. I can't wait to wear these and take them on my holidays, where I can wear over my bikini by the pool or on the beach. I'm getting way too excited!

So I hoped this helped if you were making your own shorts, and if you did, let me know how they went. But if you were just reading this for inspiration, I hope they inspired you to create your own. You don't even need a nice pair of jeans. I've used a cheap pair from a charity shop before or even hand me down clothes are perfect, you don't need to spend loads on a pair of jeans just to cut them up. I've had these jeans for years and I think they are finally worn, but not anymore! I can get loads more wears out of these shorts now!

Hope you like them,

Stay Happy, 

Sarah